That New Climate Department

Global Warming Politics

"Politician’s logic: We must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do it." [Sir Humphrey Appleby GCB, KBE, MVO, MA (Oxon)]

So, in today’s reshuffle of the UK Cabinet, Gordon Brown has decided to establish a new ‘Energy and Climate Department’ to be headed by Ed Miliband, brother of our ‘Warmista’ Foreign Secretary, David Miliband [‘Greens welcome new climate dept’, BBC Online Science and Environment News, October 3]. Oh dear! I fear that such a Department is going to need an awful lot of Ministers and Parliamentary Under Secretaries. On this question, I have already consulted Sir Humphrey Appleby GCB, KBE , MVO, MA (Oxon), no less, who is horrified at the large number of politicians who might have to be promoted (although, of course, he welcomes the staffing implications for more civil servants).

Here is Sir Humphrey’s preliminary list of the posts that will be required on the climate side alone (he admits that, at such short notice, it is far from complete):

Minister of State for Cosmic Ray Fluxes, Solar Magnetic Cycles, and Sunspots;

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Meteorites and Cosmic Dust.

Minister of State for the Earth’s Orbit, Tilt, Wobble, Shape, and Rotational Velocity;

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Earth’s Magnetic Field.

Minister of State for Tectonic Movements, Volcanic Eruptions, and Ocean Circulations;

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Ocean Salinity, Glacier Mass-Balance, and Sea-Ice Thickness...